Sunday, September 28, 2014

"The Giver" breaks even

With this weekend's box office estimates still to come, it looks like The Giver will at least make back its budget. According to Box Office Mojo, the film has earned about $43 million domestically, and by their standards, would need to make about $23 million to at least break even. A studio roughly earns about 55% of a film's gross as profit, and with a production budget listed at $25 million, I think it's safe to say it's a wash. Add in the foreign returns and it pushes the total to about $57 million. I'm not sure if the 55% rule applies as closely when looking at both domestic and foreign receipts combined, but I think the likelihood is that The Giver didn't end up losing money for The Weinstein Company.

This isn't to say that the film was a financial success. Any studio wants its films to be blockbusters, and there was likely some hope that this movie could do quite well in cinemas. Considering that it's been in theaters for six weeks, I imagine this will be looked back on by Harvey as a disappointment. Hoping Into the Woods fairs better. I expect a full trailer within the next month!